Disclaimer: The brilliant Anne McCaffrey owns the real Pern books, I don't. However I do own my characters.

A/N: A warning to my readers, most of this chapter is comprised of a mating flight. I will NOT write certain parts with details that explain exactly what is happening. Note that this fanfic is rated T for a reason. I will try to make this as appropriate as I can, but not everything can be left out.

A/N 2: Truthfully, I was at the brink of shedding tears when I was writing this, especially the last part. If you have a problem with reading very emotion-filled stuff that is the equivalent of a chick-flick , be prepared or don't read this at all.

Kaylith slept peacefully, not one picture in her mind, not one dream all night between us. I woke up on my own, not awakened by wake-up calls or voices. My sleeping chamber was silent, only my breathing and the rustling of sleeping furs made any noise. Outside of my weyr, Benden Weyr was alive with activity. I guessed that it was almost midday by all the dragon voices in my head- more voices than should be in the Weyr.

Most of these mind voices belonged to bronze dragons.

Sitting up in my bed, I reached out with my mind to touch the dragon minds of the Weyr. I could tell by the feeling of the dragons's mind voices who was who. I felt few green dragon minds, mostly young and belonging to Benden Weyr, and absolutely no gold dragons besides my sleeping Kaylith. Almost of the blues and browns of Benden were there. But as I reached out, I mostly felt bronze dragons, over a hundred of them on the rim of the Weyr Bowl.

I gasped. Most of these bronzes were from other Weyrs, all of them full of beast blood. They were all waiting for a mating flight. They were waiting for Kaylith.

I got up out of my bed and rushed over to the chest where I kept my clothing. I pulled off the clothes I had slept in and quickly put on a light, deep blue dress. I ran my hand through my short blonde hair as I walked out of my sleeping chamber, not bothering to put on shoes. I entered into the cavern that Kaylith usually slept in. It was empty. I walked out to the ledge, my bare feet making no noise on the cold stone floor. I came out into the sunlight and found Kaylith, my giant gold, laying on her ledge in the sun, glowing brilliantly.

In my head I counted the days since Gareth and Agina's passing. It had only been twenty five days. Kaylith had said a month, just over four sevendays, but only three and a half had passed.

I looked all around the Weyr. Bronzes lay on the Weyr Rim and on lower ledges. They all looked right at Kaylith and her glowing hide. I could feel their anticipation buzzing in my mind, their thoughts wordless but anxious. I only recognized a few dozen bronze dragon minds, those that belonged to Benden Weyr.

With my mind, I sought out one mind in particular. I found him, his mind awake. With my eyes, I found him across the Weyr, sitting on his ledge, his rider leaning against the bronze dragon.

Nalonth, I asked, is it already her time to rise, so soon?

Almost, he replied, T'gen says-

His thought was disrupted by a stirring in my mind. Kaylith, who had been silent and without thought all night, came to awareness in my mind.

It is time.

My gold queen, her hide shining with a golden light so brilliant I had to squint to look at her, opened her eyes. They glowed gold, a shade I had never see in her eyes before because she had never felt like this before. My chest felt hot, burning and aching with a fire of pure emotion.

Kaylith stood and bellowed out one note. She leapt off the ledge, spreading her wings and gliding down to the feeding grounds. She landed with her talons submerged into the back of one of the beasts, blood oozing out onto the ground. The bronzes waited. I remembered my training, the things that the other weyrwomen had told me in preparation for the flight. They told me that gold dragons should only drink the blood of beasts and not consume meat. I was strictly and specifically told to not let her eat any flesh.

Kaylith, I told her, don't eat the meat. Only drink the blood.

Kaylith bit into the neck of the beast she had caught and began sucking only on the blood. She finished quickly and pounced on an even larger beast, sinking her teeth into its soft neck.

Only drink the blood, I reminded her. If you consume its meat you'll sink like a rock.

She finished that beast and consumed the blood of three more. As Kaylith drank up the blood of the fifth, bronzeriders were hurrying to my ledge. A hundred of them gathered in front of me as Kaylith raised her bloody snout and roared a challenge to the bronze dragons, daring them to catch her. She spread her wings and with one mighty down stroke rose into the air.

The burning emotion in my chest reached its peak and my mind became entirely one with my dragon.


Burning. Burning heat. My wings could not carry me as fast as I wanted to climb.

But then I was not alone. Natala was with me, fully with me. Her body was somewhere else but her mind was with mine. I flew, but we flew together.

I rose higher and higher, the warm winds lifted me higher than the clouds. I was higher than the height at which we fought Thread. I was followed by many bronzes. My bronzes.

Not all could follow this high. They fell back and left the flight. They were the old, small, weak bronzes. They hadn't ever had any chance with me.

Some kept up, the largest bronzes that were the size of small queens. I was larger. I was the largest queen on Pern.

Two were from Benden, the rest were from other places. They all wanted me. They all had to want me to chase after me.

Their riders want to be Weyrleader, the Natala part of me thought.

Five bronzes fell behind. I was so high that the air was becoming thin. I stopped climbing but flew east. A wind carried me away from the pursuers.

Two more became tired. The two from Benden and three others kept up.

I was so strong, so fast. So beautiful, Natala in me thought. Those bronzes had no chance with me.

One grew tired, followed by two more who dropped down from the sky. Only two left, the two from Benden.

I could feel their minds, the emotion and strength that identified them as Bantoth and Nalonth. They were the biggest bronzes at Benden, both worthy to catch me. But one had to be better.

Nalonth, the larger and younger, sped forward and came closer. I felt his breath on my tail. He had almost caught me before I increased my speed and flew away. He would have to try a little harder before I would let him catch me.

They were close again, both of the bronzes. Hot, fiery blood flowed through me. Hot beast blood filled my stomach. I was so fast, powerful, strong, beautiful. I led the two bonzes on a chase that-

One dragon cried out in pain. I felt his mind. He was the one most familiar to me. He was the one who was strong enough to catch me, the only one who should catch me.

Natala in my mind was shocked. She knew him, she loved his rider. It's the dragon's choice, she thought, just because he is hurt doesn't mean that you'll betray me if you let the other one catch you.

No. The hurt one had been hurt by the older, smaller one. He was not worthy for me. He had hurt the one we wanted, but that was not the reason he was unworthy. I, Kaylith, wanted Nalonth. I was the dragon, I chose who I wanted to catch me.

Nalonth dropped from the sky, his wings torn and unable to lift him. Bantoth, the one who used his talons, sped forward to catch me.

No, I screamed into his mind. I dived out of reach of Bantoth. I dived down to Nalonth and hooked our talons together. Our tails twisted around each other. We came together.

I had the one I wanted.

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I had the one I wanted.

My mind separated from Kaylith as she caught Nalonth. I was thrust back into my body, my mind disconnected from Kaylith's powerful body. She was her own self, caught up in the mating flight in the sky. I was me again, just me in this body...

I was lying in a bed. My bed. With someone.

My skin was covered in sweat. I had no idea how I had gotten from the ledge to my sleeping chamber and into this bed. Someone's warm body lay on me, lips kissed mine with passion. My eyes were closed, I couldn't see who was with me.

I pulled back and opened my eyes. I looked up into eyes that were colored just like the hide of a... green dragon?

Shards, it was R'vin!

My eyes opened wide. Anger rushed through me. This was not who I should be with. The man I should be with had bronze eyes, not green. No, shard it, this was not T'gen! I lifted my arms and with a burst of mad energy tried to push R'vin off of me. He was big and strong, though, and I could not get him off me alone.

Hands grabbed R'vin's shoulders and pulled him away. R'vin was flung onto the floor. Arms wrapped around me and held me close to a bare chest. The man who held me had warm skin. He felt right, he felt like he was the one I should have been with.

"Shard it, R'vin," the man who held me shouted at R'vin on the floor, "Bantoth didn't have Kaylith at all! Your sharding dragon clawed mine. Kaylith and Nalonth are together, she caught him. Natala is mine!"

R'vin cowered from T'gen's enraged voice. I felt huge relief as I saw that R'vin had only his shirt off and that he hadn't gotten fully undressed. But my dress had been torn completely off of me. That sharding R'vin.

R'vin stumbled out of my sleeping chamber. I looked into T'gens eyes, into the face of the one I should have been with. His face was pained, but his eyes looked into mine with an overwhelming sense of love.

I remembered Nalonth. I wanted to ask T'gen how he was, but how could I ask without a voice?

How could I tell him that I loved him?